Lifestyles

A la Carte: It's Halloween, cupcake

By Jackie BurrellBay Area News Group

Posted:
10/20/2010 01:00:00 AM PDT

Updated:
09/29/2012 12:26:30 AM PDT

Got a Halloween party in your future? Here's a roundup of spooky food ideas:

Even the icing-challenged can turn cupcakes into spook-tacular green witches' faces and jolly pumpkins with these Roundabouts cupcake wrappers ($8.99 per dozen), designed by SoCal mom Sheri Mersola. Pre-printed strips wrap around the cupcake base, and all you need do is add a swipe of frosting (and an upside down ice cream cone hat) to create a cupcake even Elphaba would love. Find these and 50 other designs online at www.roundaboutsleeves.com/.

The 17 Halloween treats Better Homes and Gardens' cupcake creators have dished up on their site are a little more effort, but the little cakes are so hilarious, it's well worth it. Our favorites include the mummy faces, spiky haired monsters and an upturned witch, her candy-striped legs poking out of the top of the cake. Check them out at www.bhg.com/holidays/halloween/recipes/17-frightfully-good-halloween-cupcakes.

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Get ideas for kid-friendly dishes and grown-up treats from Food Network's Sandra Lee, who will be airing a Halloween special, with table decorating tips as well as food and costume ideas, at 11:30 a.m. Oct. 24. Her recipes are posted online at www.FoodNetwork.com too, and we're particularly enamored with the Black Cloud Cocktails for grown-ups (who knew they made black vodka?) and Vampire Bites Mocktail for kids. The latter combines 2 cups cranberry juice, ½ cup apple juice, ¼ cup grenadine and 1½ cups seltzer water, garnished with gummy vampire teeth and a squirt of red gel.